The state of Montana expects within a couple months to complete a new, tightened set of rules for disposal of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials (TENORM) waste in landfills.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued the draft rules on Jan. 31 and plans to issue the notice of adoption by April, according to agency spokesman Paul Driscoll.
The draft final version of the regulations makes a number of changes to the form issued in August 2019. Perhaps most notably, the radionuclide concentration limit would be reduced from 200 picocuries per gram to 50 pCi/g for intake into a TENORM waste management system.
That would be in line with the planned combined maximum for storage within a facility. However, the 2019 proposal recommended allowing acceptance of individual loads with radionuclide concentrations as high as 200 pCi/g. The intent was to reduce the likelihood of illegal dumping of TENORM waste while preventing hazards to humans or the environment, according to the DEQ.
That approach proved more complex than previously identified. It also drew opposition from the Northern Plains Resource Council, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for family farms and ranches in the state.
“A fixed limit of 50 pCi/g provides greater certainty and a less confusing regulatory structure for owners and operators of TENORM waste management systems,” the amended rules state. “Incoming loads of TENORM waste would either pass or fail the 50 pCi/g acceptance limit, and owners and operators of TENORM waste management systems would no longer be required to create procedures for ensuring an average combined concentration of 50 pCi/g within the TENORM waste unit.”
The updated language means that higher-concentration waste would continue to be required to be stored out of state, Driscoll said.
Montana has one landfill with a licensed facility for disposal of TENORM, along with two facilities that have been licensed but have not yet built their management system for that waste type.
The planned changes to the 2019 draft rule would also reduce the gate screening exposure level from 200 to 100 microroentgen per hour for incoming waste into the system. There would be no directive for determining the “rolling average” for radionuclide concentrations of TENORM waste in storage. And a disposal operator would also have to immediately halt waste acceptance and alert the state agency within a day following any breach of the 100 millirem per year dose equivalent limit at a site boundary.
TENORM is naturally radioactive material that has come into contact with the environment or has been concentrated as a result of human activities, such as oil and natural gas production. Disposal is not regulated at the federal level.
The annual average of disposal in Montana for the past five years has been 58,600 tons, Driscoll said. While the state is an oil and gas producer, much of its TENORM waste comes from neighboring North Dakota.
The Department of Environmental Quality issued its first set of proposed rules in 2017, but in January 2018 determined it needed to revise the regulations after receiving input from the stakeholders and the public. That led to the planned regulations last August, which have now also been revised.
Among the remaining provisions: A TENORM waste management system license will be required for building, expanding, or operating such a system; the license application must feature a design, operations and management plan, and closure and post-closure plan that comply with state environmental quality regulations; and a TENORM waste unit, on average, could not exceed 50 picocuries per gram of combined radium-226 and radium-228.
The Northern Plains Resource Council had lobbied intensely against the radionuclide concentration limits set in the 2019 proposal, including with a campaign of radio ads in the state capital of Helena while lawmakers were attending an off-session legislative week in January.
Representatives for the organization were not available for comment this week. But in a press release, member Patty Whitford called the update “vital” for the state. “Unless we get in line with North Dakota, Montana will remain a dumping ground for North Dakota’s waste. We need to protect our communities and the health of our residents.”
Comments on the final draft are being accepted through 5 p.m. local time Monday. They can be submitted by email at [email protected]; by fax to 406-444-4386; or by mail to Sandy Scherer, MT DEQ, P.O. Box 200901, Helena, MT 59620.
